BuzzFeed, the Web's top stop for quizzes, nostalgia lists and all things shareable, released the second app in its 10 year history and as you'd expect, it's all about cute little huggable fluffy animals. Or not. They could be ugly. That's up to you to decide in BuzzFeed's Tinder-esque Cute or Not app. You can download it now on the Apple App Store.
Cute or Not is pretty simple to use and understand. It presents users with a picture of a cat or dog, and in order to decide whether it's aesthetically pleasing you swipe right if it is and left if it is not. And if you want, you can upload your own domesticated critter to the app for the rest of the world to judge. All you have to do is take a photo of your pet and create an account that links to your Facebook or email. You can also add your pet's bio and upload its photo to Facebook, Twitter and other sites. If it gets enough approvals it can be featured on BuzzFeed proper. Finally, you can keep track of which pets are trending and share those pictures with friends on social sites.
"Cute or Not actually started as an editorial experiment by BuzzFeed's animals team where BuzzFeed community members could upload their pets to BuzzFeed and vote for their favorites," BuzzFeed Vice President of Product Chris Johansen said in a blog post. "We believed that Cute or Not would make an even better app experience and wanted to build something that our community could have fun with."
BuzzFeed has been expanding greatly as of late. Most recently, it acquired the startup GoPop which means the company now houses two app development teams: one that will work on the main BuzzFeed app and the other on experimental products. Apps are becoming more and more crucial for media companies so it makes sense to engage users and readers as much as possible while they're out and about on their mobile devices. The new Cute or Not app should appeal directly to the fickle yet coveted 18- to 35-year-old demographic, with more apps from BuzzFeed on the way.
"Looking ahead, 2015 will be our biggest mobile product year to date - and we're psyched about that!" Johansen said. "For our current apps for iOS and Android, we'll keep doing our best to make a delightful experience for our readers who love fun and entertaining lists, quizzes, and life stories - but still want to be informed about the world when big things happen."
Photo Credit: BuzzFeed
